-The Hindu The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a Central Monitoring Committee to ensure the implementation of action plan meant for reducing pollution stretches across the country. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “Having given due consideration to the serious issue and inadequacy of success achieved so far, we find it necessary to constitute a Central Monitoring Committee to undertake a national initiative by way of...

-The Telegraph The Sunderban region needs to be more effectively represented in Parliament Immediately after the schedule of the seventeenth Lok Sabha election was declared, a news item appeared that said dwellers of the mangrove forests of the Sunderbans have demanded immediate implementation of the Forest Rights Act in the islands and declared that they would vote for candidates who support their cause. This demand was articulated by the Jana Sramajibi Manch,...

-Down to Earth The draft, which has been prepared with focus on conservation and climate change, has been sent to states seeking comments The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has finalised the first draft of the comprehensive amendments to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA). The 123-page draft provides definitions to important terms that were missing from the law. The draft has been prepared based on the inputs of a...

-The Indian Express The pollution problem is not merely a technological issue, but a social concern. Air pollution is a silent killer in India, especially in the country’s northern belt. Eighteen per cent of the world’s population lives in India, but the country bears 26 per cent of the global disease burden due to air pollution. According to estimates of the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative — published last year in...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Eyeing economic gains through ecological work, non-profit organisation Pradan, along with Chhattisgarh government, has launched a watershed project in the state to enhance the income of 1 lakh small and marginal farmers, of whom over 40 per cent belong to Scheduled Tribes. A watershed is a chunk of a land that drains out at a common point. The watershed development approach takes a comprehensive account of the people, land,...